Blake Blessing

It all started when I was six years old. I was homeless. They were held prisoner. I saved them. Even though it put me in the system. They believed we built an unbreakable bond forged by trauma. These beautiful, damaged boys saw me differently than the rest of the world.

My name is Vienna Drew. I was raised with a gun in one hand and a code in the other. My father didn’t teach me how to be soft—he taught me how to survive. Now he’s gone, murdered without a trace, and I’m going to find the person who did it. Then I’m going to burn their world to ash.

This is my senior year, and not only have my parents moved me to a new place where I know nothing and no one, they are determined to make me fall in line with the life they want me to have. Not the life that I want. But what fits perfectly into their world....

My name is now Rick Drew. Fresh out of a facility they called a hospital and I called a cage, I wasn’t looking for redemption. I wasn’t looking for anything. Then I found her bleeding in an alley, and everything I thought I wanted burned to ash.

Vienna doesn’t ask for loyalty. She demands it without a word. And I gave it—freely, stupidly. Even with Rick, her broken guardian angel, breathing down my neck. I should hate him, but the man can cook, clean, and kill with surgical precision. Besides, he loves her too. That’s enough for now.

I’m not crazy. I’m the product of a schizophrenic mother who seemed more evil than human, and a bipolar father who didn’t love me enough to stay. I refuse to be crazy. Then four men swoop in just when I need them. They’re protective, supportive, and everything I never had....

Now that I maneuvered my parents into giving me the future I wanted, life seems easy. But it's not long until everything starts to fall apart. The pretty lies that kept my world tied up in a pretty red bow? They're starting to unravel....

So close. We were so close to getting free. A few more deals here. A few more nasty secrets there. All in the name of the cause, of course. Then she walked in at the wrong place, wrong time. Making the right decision was critical, but we were literally at a crossroads....

When forced to make an impossible choice, would you sacrifice your pride or your morals? I’m Amorette Monet Black, and I was abducted. Funny thing, I have a choice. One that most women don’t get. I could stay here and be forced to share my body...

I’m Cash Morgan. Special Agent Cash Morgan. They trained me to track killers. To find the cracks in their masks, the patterns in their chaos. I was the quiet voice behind a badge, the profiler with a near-perfect record, the one they called when things got dark and twisted.

I'd always idolized them growing up, but since they forced me back, I see them for who they are. My four beautiful, angry boys grew into stubborn, selfish men. Men who take what they want with no regard for anyone or anything. Except maybe me.

Life had always been about right and wrong. No gray area. No exceptions. But my time with the bastard sons of the Institution were slowly changing my mind–forcing me to see that sometimes the only options available to someone were bad and worse.

Broken isn’t forever. It’s time I worked on myself and my mental health. I won’t give up. Broken can’t be forever. What happened to Eli still haunts my thoughts, no matter what I do to block it out. Broken won’t be forever....